Euro Trip Travelogue: Lille

After having settled in on Saturday (19th Sep) night, we slept for most of the day on Sunday. We spent our waking hours exploring the apartment and the surroundings. The apartment is definitely well furnished and has all the amenities that one can want, including a hydro massage shower. Well, all but a provision for water at the throne! All the walls are wooden and the house has an overall toy house feel to it! Just opposite the apartment is a supermarket while McDonalds is also within 3 min walking distance. I finally got a taste of a genuine hamburger!

We had classes on Monday and had to take a bus into the city centre. We found the bus system to be extremely streamlined. Bus stops give precise information about the expected arrival time of the next bus. Drivers dispense tickets and people also get off at stops by informing the driver through stop buttons placed all over the bus. This helps save time at stops where there are no passengers getting on or off! We reached IESEG, registered for our courses, and finally got a taste of what good teaching can be like! No wonder one of my seniors had a crush on this chap! I suppose, if I wasn't straight, I would be thinking on similar lines too! Clear and precise manner of teaching with an underlying structure to the course. I suppose some of the profs back at my institute could take pointers.

We decided to explore the city centre a bit at night and went around clicking pics of the majestic buildings surrounding the centre, near the Gare Lille Flandres. I shall upload these pics soon. This weekend, we may go to Paris. More about future plans and their fruition in the next post!

Euro Trip Travelogue: The journey abroad

Early morning, 19th September, 2009. The big day had finally arrived. After a hectic few hours of packing, weighing, repacking and weighing again, I was all set to go to France for my exchange programme. Last minute delays and my usual long drawn out bath routine meant that I was, not surprisingly, late for my appointment with two of my batchmates who were also accompanying me for the exchange programme. So, out came the usual bout of crazy driving. 28 mins later, I was checking in at CSIA. Managed to just make the luggage limit of 30 kg! Immigration was a breeze and then came the waiting lounge. Unfortunately, most of the shops were closed which was very surprising considering that this was an international airport! Anyway, long story cut short, I purchased Dan Brown's new book and settled down to read until our flight was announced.

EK0505 was an Airbus 330 and I had booked a window seat. Brilliant views of Bombay were afforded and I settled down to enjoy the creature comforts. A seafood meal was only the icing on the cake! Dubai International Airport's duty free shopping is legendary for a reason! It is, quite simply, HUGE! All sorts of goods were on offer and we simply passed the 4 hours of waiting time roaming around and soaking in the atmosphere. A Beef Royale at Burger King was the bonus!

The connecting flight to Paris was the EK075, a Boeing 777-300 LR. It was, by far, the biggest plane I had ever been in! And so much more comfortable than the A330. Meals were served continuously and were varied. Crackers and cheese, chicken casserole, tea and biscuits...you name it, they had it. Plus, there was the wine which was, admittedly, quite disappointing. Paris was reached in approx. 7 hours from Dubai. The higlights of the descent to Charles De Gaulle was the view of the Eiffel Tower with its twinkling lights, from the air! Too bad, my camera was lying in a dismantled state in my backpack! The camera mounted on the nose wheel assembly afforded an excellent view of the approaching runway and the landing was oh-SO-super smoooooth! We never even came to know when the aircraft touched down. The passengers all broke into spontaneous applause for the pilot. I had heard of this phenomenon happening before, but actually experiencing it was a lot of fun. 15 min of taxiing later, we were being ushered through customs, baggage claim and then down to the CDG station. In no time, we were on the TGV to Lille. Our landlord had come to receive us at the Gare Lille Europe. A short drive later, we walked into the apartment that we are going to call home for the next 3 months! I shall upload a few indicative pics soon enough. For those who know me, the pics are already there on my Facebook and Orkut accounts. More on Lille in the next post.